Ethan Hawke teams with Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo for this neo-noir dramedy about one hard-charging “truthstorian” who stumbles on a murder mystery connected to a powerful Oklahoma family
From the man who created a show that defied genre in its equal parts hilarious and profound depiction of Indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma, it makes sense that Sterlin Harjo’s follow-up to Reservation Dogs would also defy expectations of a traditional noir. In The Lowdown, Ethan Hawke (who guest-starred on Reservation Dogs) leads an impressive ensemble as Tulsa “truthstorian” Lee Raybon, whose obsession with a possible murder mystery lands him in deep trouble. “Tulsa felt like the right place to set a noir,” says Harjo. “In noir, we’ve explored Los Angeles, New York City, even New Orleans. But there’s so much political and cultural activity happening in the middle of the country and Tulsa has the right amount of grit, the right amount of history, the right amount of secrets, to set this story in.”
Hawke, whose relationship with Harjo started a few years prior to Reservation Dogs, was eager to return to Oklahoma for the next phase of their collaboration, this time as a citizen journalist who follows his conviction despite its inability to make ends meet. “I’m always drawn to people who really want to follow their dreams,” the actor explains. “It’s easy to say to kids, but when you get into adult life, with all the responsibilities that you’re met with, a lot of people compromise those things. Lee doesn’t, but there’s a price to be paid, and that largely shows up in his relationship with his family and his daughter.”
Indeed, from a personal standpoint, Hawke was very much able to relate to his character. “As somebody who has been chasing his dreams his whole life, it’s a fine balance to be the parent you want to be and the human being you want to be,” he says. “Sometimes they don’t seem to line up.” He also loved the moral complexity that came with Lee’s hunt for truth. “I love the expression ‘truthstorian,’ first of all, because it’s not really a word,” says Hawke. “It expresses a true thing for Lee, which is that the intersection of truth and history is so needed. Without understanding where we come from, we don’t understand where we are. But it’s also sloppy and a trainwreck of an expression. It’s hard to say [out loud], and it seemed very perfect for Lee.”
The series co-stars Twin Peaks’ Kyle MacLachlan and Big Love’s Jeanne Tripplehorn as gubernatorial candidate Donnie Washberg and his sister-in-law Betty Jo, whose family member’s suicide sets Lee’s Spidey Sense a-tinglin’. Tripplehorn, a Tulsa native, enjoyed playing a character that toes the line between loss and hidden motives. “Betty Jo’s a survivor. She comes from a very small town in Oklahoma. She may or may not have been a stripper, but she was definitely a rodeo queen and she’s kind of a hellcat,” says Tripplehorn. “The bottom line is, she’s going to survive at any cost.”
In the series, Betty Jo is suspiciously close to brother-in-law Donnie, who may have had something to do with his brother Dale’s (Tim Blake Nelson) death. As MacLachlan muses: “The expectation is he’s ‘The Heavy’ [a character that provides the most conflict in a story], because he’s got so much to lose, and because of Ethan’s questioning and his digging into my family. But one of the beauties of the script is that, as we go along, we feel more and more that here’s a guy who’s just doing what he needs to do, and that he’s struggling against his family being exposed. That turns him into a real fighter.”
After working with Harjo, MacLachlan compares the writer-director to late director (and Twin Peaks creator) David Lynch, with whom the actor collaborated frequently for over three decades. “David’s worlds are singular and specific, and I felt like the world of The Lowdown is singular and specific,” he says. “There was an atmosphere of joy, fun and creativity working with David Lynch, that I also felt working with Sterlin. And there was always room for growth and improvement. Working with David, the script would change, situations would change, lines would change, things would be transposed. Working with Sterlin, it’s the same way. There were many more similarities than differences between the two.”
Hawke, meanwhile, praises Harjo’s commitment to community, be it the people of Tulsa or his own film crew. “They all know each other. There’s a safety net underneath everybody. Everybody’s been through struggles and survived them, and you feel that when you walk on set — and that gives me a lot of confidence,” he says of Harjo’s crew. “I sensed it was a place where we might be able to do something original.” The distinct universe that the Oklahoman creator has built also struck a chord with the actor. “The Lowdown is full of wit and humour and silliness, and it’s got an undercurrent of a really honest conversation about who we are and how we can intersect with each other and hold multiple truths at the same time,” says Hawke. “The role of journalism, the ways that we tell our community stories and the way we create a narrative of our lives and of our community, it just couldn’t be more important.”
The Lowdown airs on Tuesday, October 14., FX Canada; and streams Wednesday, October 15 Disney+